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Does it help to have friends in high places? Bank stock performance and congressional committee chairmanships

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  • Gropper, Daniel M.
  • Jahera, John S.
  • Park, Jung Chul

Abstract

Does a politician with power in the U.S. Congress positively affect the value of firms headquartered in their home state? We investigate this question by examining the profitability and stock performance of commercial banks. Banks can be enormously influenced by the political and regulatory environment. We find that banks headquartered in states where a Senator or member of the House of Representatives serves as the chairman on their respective banking committee in Congress outperform banks headquartered in other states. In addition, we find that this “chair effect” is more pronounced when the committee chairs are strongly aligned with other politicians in Congress, when they are more experienced, and when banks are clustered in the home state, suggesting that the potential benefits generated from chairmanship are in more demand. Overall, our results suggest that there are some important value implications of a local politician’s power in Congress.

Suggested Citation

  • Gropper, Daniel M. & Jahera, John S. & Park, Jung Chul, 2013. "Does it help to have friends in high places? Bank stock performance and congressional committee chairmanships," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 1986-1999.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:37:y:2013:i:6:p:1986-1999
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2013.01.003
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    Cited by:

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    2. Abdul‐Rahman Khokhar & Hesam Shahriari, 2022. "Is the SEC captured? Evidence from political connectedness and SEC enforcement actions," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2725-2756, June.
    3. Panagiota Papadimitri & Ansgar Wohlschlegel, 2019. "Lobbying, Regulatory Enforcement and Corporate Governance: Theory and Evidence from Regulatory Enforcement Actions against US Banks," Working Papers in Economics & Finance 2019-08, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth Business School, Economics and Finance Subject Group.
    4. Sunghoon Joo & Dong H. Kim & Jung Chul Park, 2020. "Does local political support influence financial markets? A study on the impact of job approval ratings of political representatives on local stock returns," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 55(2), pages 247-276, May.
    5. Farag, Hisham & Dickinson, David, 2020. "The power of Connections: Evidence from financial companies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    6. Berry, Christopher R. & Fowler, Anthony, 2018. "Congressional committees, legislative influence, and the hegemony of chairs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 1-11.
    7. John Ashton & Tim Burnett & Ivan Diaz Rainey & Peter L. Ormosi, 2018. "Has the financial regulatory environment improved in the UK? Capture-Recapture approach to estimate detection and deterrence," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Competition Policy (CCP) 2018-03, Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    8. Gropper, Daniel M. & Jahera, John S. & Park, Jung Chul, 2015. "Political power, economic freedom and Congress: Effects on bank performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 76-92.
    9. Klusak, Patrycja & Thornton, John & Uymaz, Yurtsev, 2020. "Do personal connections improve sovereign credit ratings?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).
    10. Panagiota Papadimitri & Ansgar Wohlschlegel, 2020. "Lobbying and Enforcement: Theory and Application to Bank Regulation," Working Papers 2020-01, Swansea University, School of Management.
    11. Killins, Robert N. & Ngo, Thanh & Wang, Hongxia, 2022. "Financial institution IPOs and regulatory environments," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    12. Ivan Diaz-Rainey & John Ashton & Maz Yap & Murat Genc & Rosalind Whiting, 2015. "The determinants of regulatory responses to risks from financial innovation: Survey evidence from G20," Working Papers 15001, Bangor Business School, Prifysgol Bangor University (Cymru / Wales).
    13. Sun, Rui & Guo, Junfei & Yu, Wensong, 2023. "Sponsor, institutional investor, and quotation behavior: Theory and evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 411-428.
    14. Yue, Heng & Zhang, Liandong & Zhong, Qinlin, 2022. "The politics of bank opacity," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Political effects; Government regulation; Bank performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates

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